Food recommendations for cats with UTI

I would like to know if the IAMS urinary support or the Purina One Urinary support dry foods can work in place of the prescription cat food (Royal canin s/o or hills science diet.) I will not be able to afford the prescription foods. I have two cats and my financials cannot support a food change that big. Prescription is like 4 times regular food. I recently had to take my cat to the vet and they said that he had an UTI that was trying to create a blockage. They had that he had crystals in his urine. They said that the main reason this happened was not getting enough water in their diet. They prescribed some anti inflammatory meds and said that I need to move to urinary food asap to avoid problems in the future. I have heard reviews on the Iams being a good replacement for the dry prescription food, but would like some insight on the situation. I have been soaking the dry food with water to get some more water intake since the dry food is so dehydrating and been feeding more wet food in general. They are kinda food snobs. They like wet food but want dry food sometimes too. So I plan on soaking the dry food when I can, and always paring with wet food for water intake. Thanks in advance!

Hello!  One thing to clarify with your vet would be whether there was, in fact, a UTI (infection)?   Most urinary tract disease of cats is not an infection (needing antibiotics) but a sterile disease called cystitis, caused by pain and spasms in the urinary tract  which have multiple causes and can be addressed on several fronts.  If there is definitely an infection, which can be demonstrated in a laboratory, antibiotics may be prescribed.   Where there are large numbers of crystals forming in the urine, changing the food in order to change the acidity of the urine - and thereby make crystals less likely to form - may be one possible front of defense.  However, my understanding is that for many cats, addressing other fronts may be more impactful, including a high water throughput.  This may be acheived by adding water to whichever food you are using and by encouraging your cat to drink; also by experimenting with different bowls and drinking systems in different positions around the house.  Some cats will drink most readily from a tap left dripping; others from a water fountain.  Most cats are picky about their water bowl, some prefering ceramic or metal or plastic and others not wanting to drink where they are overlooked or in the presence of other family members, or what they perceive to be the territory of another cat (multicat households).  Another 'front' to tackle may be reducing stress in general.  Cats are very susceptible to stress and stress is considered to be a huge part of feline bladder disease.  The trouble is that cats seldom look stressed (or only in extremis) to human eyes, so it is hard for owners to anticipate.  To keep stress low for cats, always provide a choice of urine tray / cat litter / location and again, if there is more than one cat in the household, may sure that there are enough toilets (at least one per cat and a spare) that actually get used nd that noone need sneak through anothr cats' territory if they need a drink or a pee.  You can learn about this and more on our blog (search FLUTD or urinary, cat) and also the icatcare website (Sarah Caney is an expert in this field).

To go back to the food.  A clinical evaluation of commercially available urinary acidification diets (Markwell et al, Journal American vet med association, 1999) compared wet and dry versions of the same urinary acidifying diets and found a huge difference in outcomes between them, favouring wet food.  Julien Bazelle and Penny Watson, emminent vets writing in the Vet Times, suggest that wet food and suffient water intake may be more important than the diet itself.

(Sorry - That last reference -  February 2012).